


Arsenel

by sentella_warrior



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Happy Ending, Listen this is going to get bad before it gets better, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Regret, Torture, fight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:07:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29866137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sentella_warrior/pseuds/sentella_warrior
Summary: A/N I started this story years ago and then deleted it...I've got the plague so I decided to retry it, so I'm sorry if you remember this storyTheo leaves Beacon Hills and leaves with hateful words between him and Liam. It's okay...Until it's not.Theo's missing and Liam is drowning in regret and fear. Will he find the chimera before he's killed? What state is he going to be in if he does? And will Liam be able to convince him that his home was with him all along or has he chased Theo away for good?
Relationships: Liam Dunbar/Theo Raeken
Comments: 1
Kudos: 12





	Arsenel

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, ya'll! Comments and notes are always appreciated! Leave me feedback! <3 Let's get ready to ruin Theo's day!

I think that towards the end, everyone regrets what they remember. During those brief intervals of clarity when the pain and shrill echoes of screams cease, leaving you to glance through a hazy fog. Maybe it’s at the specific time when they realize that this is it. That helps not going to come barging through the doors, that the people that you love aren’t going to tear through your captors to save you just in the knick of time. Maybe they’re on their way and maybe they’re not, but you’re coming to realize that it’s just not going to matter. You’ll be dead before they reach you. Because the clock has been ticking against you, since the moment you were dragged into this world and from the instant you took your first breath, this was always going to be where you ended. There was never any other fate for you. 

* * *

  
  
  


Theo dreaded the phone call before he even answered it. 

Derek Hale was not one to make light social calls, certainly not to just shoot the breeze with someone who no one had ever come to fully trust. So when the name flashed across his screen, his stomach sank and he felt the full weight of his existence bare across his shoulders. Selfishly, he almost ignored the ringing. The largest part of him demanded that he ignore whatever it was that he was about to be asked to do, to continue trying to live in the life he was slowly trying to build for himself. A year ago and he would have. He would have denied the call and threw the phone away, pretending that he had never had it to begin with. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the Theo he was now. 

“Derek.” Brisk and blank, toneless. Hide the fact that you’re dreading whatever he’s about to say. Don’t let them see, they can’t know that you care.

“Raeken. There’s an assignment for the both of us, a pack in Chicago needs a couple of ambassadors to represent Scott.”

His grip tightened on the phone and he was almost certain Derek had heard the plastic creak. 

“Why me?”

“Argent thinks that your  _ special training  _ might come in handy. There's been a few small hunter cells sprouting around the city and he thinks that Monroe might be about to attack." The doctors may hadn't just changed the way his body moved, how his cells worked and healed themselves. They spent years training his mind to see and process faster than any normal person could. He could enter a room and locate every exit and identify every potential makeshift weapon. He could look at a map and see patterns and behaviors when it all looked random. Theo spoke many different languages and knew how to interpret code as long as even a part of it was based on an older one, and what tools could help him interpret if it wasn't. His brain was always working, even when he wasn't planning anything or in some kind of danger. It was exhausting. And he wanted a break, even just for a moment, he wanted to stop and just experience what it was like to have a future that he could decide. 

_ Monsters don't get a say. _

Theo had been made for war. And he knew that no amount of wishing or wanting was going to change the fact that he was a living, breathing weapon. The others might get a chance, might get to go to college and work for a future. Theo wouldn't.

“We’ll be gone for at least three months, maybe longer. Scott’s not sure what else they’ll need besides consulting. Pack what you absolutely need and I’ll be there in half an hour. And Theo? Talk to Liam.” Derek hung up the phone and Theo didn’t even bother trying to argue. Three months. He'd have to drop out of school, throw everything he had been working for back down the drain. It had been a miracle the school even allowed him to return a year behind, allowing his months of  _ disappearance  _ to go unquestioned and he had been grateful. Theo wanted to walk across the stage and for once, accomplish something that wasn't based on some hidden agenda or ulterior motive. And Theo was tempted, so tempted, to call Scott and tell him that he wasn't going to give up what he had been working himself into the ground for. Surely, Scott would understand and wouldn't make him go. He knew that. But Derek would still have to go to Chicago, which was beyond where the pack could reach him if he got into trouble. Theo knew someone would have to go with him.

Theo stood in the middle of what had slowly become his room. A bookshelf with a few dozen of his favorites books that were all well-read, a blanket that had his initials embroidered across the bottom, and a printed photo that had been taken when the others had coerced him into taking them to a paintball fight across town, a community fundraiser for elder kids and adults. They had insisted they could win with their reflexes and their experience dodging bullets. After only twenty minutes, Theo was the only one still in the game and had forfeited since the rest of his team had been slaughtered. He laughed when he saw them, covered in multiple colours of paint that dripped onto the bench beneath them. Mason, the one who refused to play, insisted they all line up for a group photo. Theo had played it off with a roll of his eyes but had asked Mason to send it to him anyway. Amongst them, were little clues that reminded him of the friends that invaded his space so often. Corey had left his lacrosse hoodie during the last pack meeting, an excuse to play video games, while one of Mason's special pencils had been forgotten after finishing his homework. Nolan and Alec had roughhoused months ago and left a barely noticeable dent in his dresser that would have been easy to fix if Theo wanted to. He didn't. Liam's room had partly integrated with his own and Theo didn't remember whose stuff was whose anymore.

He sat on the bed and took a deep breath. 

Liam. 

Three months without him seemed daunting in a way that scared Theo more than he would ever admit even to himself. Liam had become the first person Theo felt he could truly call a friend in the first time in over a decade. The fiery beta had been determined to pressure him into joining their puppy pack and had given him numerous chances of redemption, all the while assuring him that he saw that Theo was making attempts to be human. Liam's parents had welcomed him into their homes with open arms but Theo supposed they didn't know who he truly was and what he had done. If they had, he was certain that the last few months wouldn't have been so amazing. His own mother had been content with only one child and didn't pay heed to whatever Theo was doing. Theos father, however, had desperately wanted a son he could boast about, not the asthmatic nerd he had been stuck with and he reminded Theo of this at every turn in unforgiving ways. To have the Guyers treat him like their own son was almost too much for Theo to handle at times. When was the proper time to fake a smile and charm, everyone, in the room, or was it appropriate to admit that he was stressing over an important test? Theo was torn between knowing when to be himself and when to be what everyone expected him to be, no matter how many times Liam tried to assure him that it wasn't necessary. 

Between nightmares and attacks from hunters, they had become dependent on each other, maybe in a way that went beyond just being anchors although Theo would never admit it to himself. Liam was always at his back or right beside him, fighting together with an ease that only came from when two people put their lives in each other's hands repeatedly. Even after the fighting was said and done, Theo trusted Liam to help burn the poisons from his blood and when necessary, stitch together what went too deep to heal on its own. In return, Liam turned to Theo after the blood and tolls of war came crashing into him a little too suddenly and the smoke left carnage and grief behind, letting the chimera remind him that when people are so dead set on wreaking violence, violence is the only way to stop them. That even sometimes, the good guys of the story had to get blood under their fingers so that everyone else wouldn't have to shed theirs. It was a balance of giving and taking, pushing and pulling to set back in place what had begun to break. 

Three months without that left Theo wondering what would become of his broken parts. 

The front door slammed against the living room wall as he was finishing putting the steadily growing assortment of clothing into his duffel bags. In his life, he didn't think he had ever had this many clothes. Between Jenna Guyer and Lydia, Theo had more to pack than what was absolutely necessary and the abundance left him feeling content. Having things meant that he was real and that he wouldn't be able to just disappear into the shadows as he had done for so many years.

Theo steeled himself against the onset of conflicting emotions he felt as enraged stomps came up the stairs to his room. He needed to have control or Liam would convince him to stay. Theo focused on his heartbeat and drew in his chemosignals, resorting back into a numb shell that left him feeling achingly hollow. 

Liam's piercing yellow eyes barely made contact with his before his fist closed the distance between them. Theo felt his jaw snap out of its socket but he pushed down the instinct to fight back, convincing himself that it was just Liam and that he wasn't in danger. Liam's hands angrily grabbed his jaw and relocated it before he could do it himself, then shoved him roughly into the wall behind them. 

“You’re an asshole! Were you really just going to leave and not say anything?!” Theo stared into those eyes and opened his mouth to explain when a fist closed it again.

“I heard it from Stiles’ stupid fucking group chat, saying that he was glad you were finally leaving. Fucking STILES, Theo!”

Theo licked his lips and tasted the mercury that was always present in his blood. “Liam, I only just found out about this myself. I didn’t have time to text you yet because I don’t have a lot of time to pack.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it!” Yes, he did know it. He had been procrastinating having to have this very argument and was hoping that when it came, he'd already been on the road so he wouldn't have to face Liam in person. 

_ Look what you did. You hurt _ him.

Liam ran a hand through his hair, fingers tensing and relaxing no doubt trying not to hit Theo again. The funny thing about being mad at your anchor is that you can never really stay mad for long. Theo could see Liam breathing in their shared scent around the room, already his muscles trying to unwind themselves from his frenzy. Taking a deep breath and sighing it out, he glanced at Theos bags and his jaw ticked. He glared at them as though they were the reason he was asked to go.

“How long are they sending you away, T?”

The familiar nickname almost made him crack, almost made him weak. Alec had started calling him that when he arrived as a joke but Liam picked it up instantly, and it had become his name. Of all the names he had had before, he loved this one.

“Three months, as far as I know. Maybe longer if we're still needed but I won't know until the time comes."

Liam chuckled darkly and shook his head. “Three months in a city that's halfway across the country. Okay, alright that's fine-we have spring break coming up soon and I'll convince my parents to let us come visit-"

"Liam, you know that's not how it works." It wasn't the first time he had been sent across the country. Recon is delicate, it depends on stealth and having an advantage over your enemy. Monroe and her hunters couldn't see them entering and leaving beacon hills all the time, or they would know something was up. Derek and Theo driving out in their vehicles would be risky enough as it was but until they got to Chicago, they would just have to take the back ways and be smart. 

"I don't care how it works, I'm not just going to let you go where I can't see you!"

“Liam, it's dangerous! You know that it's not just risky for me but for everyone! You know that!"

"But-"

"No, Li. I'm sorry but you can't be coming up there, okay? We don't know what's going on so we have to be as inconspicuous as possible."

"Did you even try to say no? I know that you don't want to just drop school so did you even try to explain? Or did you just say yes and convince yourself that this is the only way'?

"If I’m needed over there then-”

“Oh, quit bullshitting yourself, Theo! We both know that if you told Scott you didn't’ want to go, then you wouldn’t have to! You’re always so desperate to be someone you're not that you agree to everything no matter what it is! Want to go try and find a nest of hunters in the preserve by yourself? Sure! Want to try and get rid of a monster that literally sucks the air out of your lungs completely without anyone else knowing where you're going? Why not! Hey, Theo do you want to leave your family and everything you've been trying to build for yourself for almost a year?! Absolutely, no questions asked. DO YOU KNOW HOW STUPID YOU ARE?!"

"LIAM, I DON'T WANT TO GO! BUT I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE!

"DAMMIT THEO YOU _ALWAYS_ HAVE A CHOICE!" A scream and there was a hole in the wall beside his head. Turning away from him, Liam breathed in and out while rubbing his head. Theo got his anger back under control. Their breathing slowed and filled the silence of the room that hung over their heads. 

Liam crossed his arms and stepped further away, his lips pursed so tightly Theo could smell the blood. “You realize that you won’t be here for our graduation, right? You won't get to walk with us. You'll miss Corey's birthday party, the one you and Mason have been planning for weeks. And what about me? Are you really just going to walk away like everything this Pack is, isn't worth anything to you? ” Theo rubbed his eyes, rubbing hard enough that it almost hurt. Yes. Because he didn't have the right to want things. After everything he had done and everything he still had yet to make up for, who was he to ask to stay? 

Apparently, Liam heard him and knew that there was no changing his mind. You can love someone and try to convince them that they're loved, show them what they mean to you and everyone else in their lives, but that didn't mean that person was going to accept the truth even when it condemned them. “Ah, I get it. Big bad Chimera doesn't need anyone, right? He can just go with the flow and move around like he’s got nothing to come back to? Tough guy, Theo. Never needed anyone.”

There was anger but Theo smelled the tears.  _ You made him cry. Monster. _

“God, you’re so stupid, Theo! Whatever, if you want to go then just get the hell out of here.”

“Liam, ple-”

“Don’t bother coming back.” The slamming door echoed in the house and Theo couldn’t breathe.

_ Quit feeling sorry for yourself. They’re all better off without you. Weak.  _

He stared at the door where Liam had just been, wishing with a childhood naiveness that he would come back and tell him that he didn't mean it. That Theo hadn't just ruined everything and hurt the one person who truly saw him as more than his past sins. He wanted to be held and told that he was doing everything he could and that it was enough. That his life here wasn't going to end the moment he walked out of this loving, caring home. 

Theo learned a long time ago that hopeless wishing didn't ever work. 

A honk outside. Liam's scent and heartbeat were nowhere to be found. It was time to go. 

He grabbed his duffel bags and couldn’t bear to look at the walls as he walked out, afraid he would see the loving eyes of people who were now and forever his past. Liam wanted him to go and not to return. Theo, a toxic poison, could do at least one thing right and let Liam live his life without the monster from his dreams living in the room beside him. Because that's what he was. A monster. A hazard and a science experiment out of control, that only left chaos and destruction in its wake. The pain was all it had ever known.

_ And it's all that you will ever bring to those around you. _

Derek leaned against Theos truck, his Camaro parked behind, running, and one gear shift away from leading Theo away. 

He watched him throw his stuff into the back. “You know he didn’t mean it.”

Theo couldn’t meet his gaze, knowing that Derek would see the parts of him that he wasn't capable of hiding. “Doesn’t matter.”

“It does and you know it.” 

Theo opened the door to his truck and Derek grabbed his shirt, stopping him from climbing up. “Three months, Theo. That's a long time to be away and to leave words unsaid. We won't be coming back this way for a while."

"Then let's get going." Even to himself, his voice was empty.

Derek wanted to say something else but he also knew better than to pry into business that wasn't his. He shook his head walked to his car and began to back out of the driveway, waving for Theo to follow. He threw his truck into reverse.

Down the road, Theo did try to call Liam. Just once to see if there was a fool's chance for an answer. The phone rang and rang and rang until a robotic voice apologized to him and broke what little piece of him had been hoping.

_ Fine. Leave him alone, he meant what he said. He’s done with you. They all are. _

Theo powered off his phone and threw it into his passenger seat, not caring to see where it went. He didn’t need it anymore. 

You Are Now Leaving Beacon Hills. Theo didn’t look back.

* * *

Liam hadn’t heard his phone ring. 

Between being yelled at by Mason for his stupidity and the cloudiness of his own anxiety, the faint buzzing of his phone hadn’t registered in his ears and it would be hours before he checked it. 

1 missed call from Theo. 

Instantly, he tried calling him back only for it to be sent directly to voicemail. Again. Voicemail. Liam didn’t know how many times he tried calling, only that somewhere in between, he knew Theo wasn’t going to answer. Liam sent him a text apologizing and then he sent one begging him to answer. Another raved in anger and called Theo an asshole for ignoring him, saying he was being childish and immature. The next was him begging for him just to let Liam talk because he needed to know they were okay. Nothing but a little symbol that said it was waiting to be delivered. 

Liam checked his phone the next day. Delivered. 

_ It’s okay,  _ he thought to himself, trying not to let his panic eclipse him.  _ He just needs a day or so to be angry and then he’ll call me. He always calls me back. _

He didn’t.

  
  



End file.
